Missoula Police Arrest Woman for Driving in Wrong Lane and DUI

Early this morning, December 20th, Missoula Police received a 911 call from a concerned citizen reporting erratic driving from a vehicle near the intersection of Craig Lane and Wyoming Street. According to Missoula Police Public Information Officer Travis Welsh, the call came in near 1:00 a.m.

"The caller gave a description of the vehicle and indicated that it was headed eastbound toward Russell," Welsh said. "An officer in the area located the vehicle and eventually pulled it over near the intersection of Front and Orange Street, after seeing it swerve into the oncoming traffic lane, where it took a very wide turn and had trouble maintaining a lane."

Welsh says the driver nearly had a head-on collision while driving in the wrong lane. The officer identified 38-year-old Shannon Rae Burns-Mitchell as the driver of the swerving vehicle. She was taken to jail on numerous charges.

"This is her fourth or subsequent DUI, Making it a felony," Welsh said. "Right now she is being held on the DUI, reckless driving, failing to have a driver's license in immediate possession, changing lanes when unsafe to do so, operating without a current registratio and failing to carry a registration receipt as required."

The reckless driving charge filed against Burns-Mitchell is actually "reckless driving while passing a stopped school bus," but as the event occurred at 1:00 a.m. it is unlikely the bus was running or contained any children. It is possible this charge is from a prior incident.